Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Positive thinking has been touted as an antidote to negative
thinking. After Freud taught us to think the worst of ourselves and
others, cognitive psychologists asserted that people did better with a more
positive outlook on life.

To my mind, they were saying that we do well to introduce
balance in our thinking. Being too positive, to the exclusion of dangers and
failures is as self-defeating as being too negative, to the exclusion of
success and happiness.

Apparently, Oprah picked up this idea and told her audience
that they would do better in life if they learned how to think positively.

I suspect that this is a caricature of Oprah’s position, but
even if it isn’t, don’t psychologists have anything better to do than to try to
disprove Oprah?

Of course, it takes more than happy thoughts to formulate and implement a
plan of action. You are not going to reach a goal without having a plan of
action and without knowing how to follow it.

So far, so good.

As often happens with these research studies, the terms tend
to be poorly defined and the problem tends to be poorly conceptualized.

Examine the thinking of NYU Professor Gabriele Oettingen.
Here she tells us how to achieve our goals.

Wish: First, define your goal. "Think about
a wish that is dear to you," Oettingen said. "What is it you really
want? This could be a big, New Year's–resolution-type ambition, like running a
marathon or losing a certain amount of weight, but it doesn't have to be.
"I do it every morning for the next day," Oettingen said on the
podcast. Your wish doesn't have to be huge; it just has to be real, something
you truly want.

Of course, something that is real and something that you
truly want are not necessarily the same thing. And, let’s not forget, as I
mentioned yesterday, that, by the reason of who you really are, you have talents
and capacities, not to mention duties and obligations to other people.

If you place what you really want ahead of what is the best
for your company, for example, you are probably not going to be too happy.

Taking your wish as the gold standard truncates your
humanity and sets you apart from other people.

After defining your wish, Oettingen says that you should
imagine the outcome:

Outcome: Here's where a little bit of positive
thinking sneaks back in. Keeping your goal in mind, ask yourself: If this wish
of mine is fulfilled, what is the best possible
outcome? "Very often, it is a feeling," Oettingen said. "You
define that outcome, and you imagine that outcome. And once you've imagined the
outcome, really immerse yourself in these daydreams."

Say what? If the problem with positive thinking is that it
detaches you from real actions in the real world, how can you advance your
cause by immersing yourself in your daydreams?

True enough, you ought to be able to envision yourself
succeeding, but the more you get bogged down in your daydreams the less you
will be able to act effectively in the world.

As for what constitutes a good outcome, here again,
Oettingen has gone off the conceptual rails. A feeling is not an outcome. A
feeling might accompany an outcome… as in, you will feel happy if you win the
race or get the raise.

But if your goal is simply to feel the feeling, why not try
a chemical substance that will give you a close simulation of the feeling
without your having to do anything to achieve a real goal.

But, even Oettingen does not believe that you should become
totally absorbed in your daydreams.

Her next step aims at what she calls obstacles:

After
you've let yourself fantasize for a little while about what it will feel like
when your goal is accomplished, bring your mind back down to reality.
"Then you say, What is it in
me that holds me back from experiencing that wish, that outcome? "
Oettingen said. "Very often it's an emotion, it's those same old habits.
... And you imagine that obstacle."

Precisely what makes her think that you just flick a little
switch and then return to reality? It is easier said than done.

Also, emotions and habits are not the same thing.

Oettingen does not want you to get into the trenches and to
make it happen. She wants you to indulge yet another bout of introspection. She
says that you should look into your mind to find the emotions or habits that
are preventing you from achieving your goals.

But, what if your habit of procrastination is preventing you
from achieving your goal? What if your sloth is holding you back? What if you
lack courage and perseverance?

These are character flaws. They do not just go away because
you wish them to go away.

Thinking about what makes things go wrong tends to make
things go wrong. Thinking about your bad habits creates a direct struggle
between you and your bad habits. As Aristotle said, bad habits are only
overcome when they are replaced by good habits.

And besides, what about real obstacles? Why doesn’t the
psychologist have any notion of real obstacles or unexpected occurrences that happen
when we try to implement a plan.

She concludes:

Plan: "Once you've imagined that
obstacle," Oettingen said, "you'll understand what you need to do to
overcome it." Come up with an if/then plan — if this obstacle pops up, then you'll do X to get around it and keep going after your
goal.

Surely it is a good thing to know what can go wrong and to
know what you will do to fix it.

But, making a plan to overcome obstacles is not the same as
making a plan to achieve a goal.

Has the psychologist ever seen a business plan? Does she
know that no one has ever developed a successful business plan without having a
very clear sense of reality, of how things get done?

Also, she has nothing to say about what you do when you have
to work with other people. Nothing about her plan suggests what you should do
when you encounter people who fail to cooperate, who are difficult to manage or
who like doing their own thing.

Dahl reports the Oettingen believes that her therapy
produces great benefits:

Oettingen's research has shown that this method has
helped people eat more fruits and vegetables; it's also helped students achieve
better grades in school, and it has even helped people act less insecure in
their romantic relationships.

Nothing is quite as important as helping people to eat more
fruits and vegetables. Effectively, her approach seems to be geared to children, real of wanna-be.

But, seriously. I favor any therapy that helps
people to function in the world. I am in favor of positive thinking as a
balance to negative thinking.